Cynthia Oi, whose career as a reporter, editor and columnist spanned four decades with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Star-Advertiser, died Dec. 7 after a brief illness at her home in Volcano, Hawaii. She was 73. 

Oi was able to showcase her eloquent writing and attention to detail in her column, “Under the Sun,” which ran in the editorial pages from 2002 until her retirement from the Star-Advertiser in 2013.

In her first column on April 3, 2002, she wrote: “Ours is to pick what will work for the islands and its people, to use what we have to excel, not import an ideal from Los Angeles or Houston to refashion awkwardly. Change ought to be cast in a framework of our own with that intangible value of our difference wired tightly throughout — all the while considering anything under the sun.”

Oi was born Sept. 5, 1947, in Honolulu. She graduated from Kaimuki High School (class of 1965) and from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Friends and former colleagues recall a woman who outwardly could be gruff and critical, who really suffered no fools gladly, but at heart was a generous and caring person with a wide-eyed love of nature.

Retired Honolulu Advertiser and, later, Star-Advertiser, reporter Ken Kobayashi knew Oi since their days working on the UH-Manoa student newspaper.

Oi just had “newspapering in her blood,” he said. “She dedicated her life to it and became an unheralded, yet influential force in the front lines of Hawaii’s daily journalism.”

Kobayashi noted that one former Star-Bulletin reporter credited her no-nonsense style with his success as a journalist. As a rookie reporter, he’d had too much to drink and called in sick to Cynthia, at the time his boss as city editor, Kobayashi recalled. “’You’re not sick,’ Cynthia told him. ‘Get to work.’”

James Gorman, who joined The New York Times in 1994 and is now a science writer at large for the publication, worked with Oi at the Hartford Courant in Connecticut in the early 1970s.

He recalled a young reporter and editor who was “fearless and funny and smart.”

“As a friend, what I most remember was her smile and laugh. As an editor, she was a great combination of challenging and generous.”

If she knew you were working hard, she would help you in any way possible, Gorman said. If not, “I guess I would say she was less generous in her opinions. But always fair and professional … Her toughness was without malice.”

Oi left the Courant in 1976 to return home and work at the Star-Bulletin.

David Shapiro, who writes the Volcanic Ash column in the Star-Advertiser, first met Oi when she was an intern for the Star-Bulletin’s Capitol Bureau and he was a reporter. Years later, he was managing editor and she was an assistant managing editor.

Oi “was one of the most multitalented journalists I ever worked with,” he said. “She could write news and features, was a sharp and insightful editor, and had a real eye for layout and design. Her mastery of so many aspects of the newsroom became a model for some of the younger editors coming up after her.”

Former Star-Bulletin Executive Editor John Simonds recalls Oi joined the paper when daily life there was “a conflict-driven multilevel chess game,” involving new automation, mainland ownership, six labor unions, the competing Honolulu Advertiser and the Hawaii Newspaper Agency.

She accepted every responsibility offered, he said, immediately staking command. Her titles included news editor, copy editor, features editor, acting city editor and assistant managing editor for news.

“She was, early on, a feisty person in charge, short in stature but with a direct leadership style that cast a tall shadow over reporters, photographers and other editors,” Simonds said.

Gerald Kato, associate professor in the UH Manoa School of Communications, also dates his friendship with Oi to their college days. Beyond her achievements as a journalist, foremost to him was her enduring friendship.

“You could turn to her for help and she was with you all the way, no matter whether it was about doing a story or a personal concern,” he said. Plus, “she cooked up a mean Texas chili.”

Oi is survived by brothers Thomas, James and Edward; sister Lydia Wojtowicz; and her partner of 41 years, Alan Matsuoka. Private services are pending.

Donations can be made to support the internship program at the Hawaii Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Donations, which are not tax-deductible, should be made out to Hawaii Chapter SPJ, P.O. Box 3141, Honolulu HI 96802. Include the note “In Memory of Cynthia Oi.”